Fine China x Soda Shop
Fine China celebrating the finer things.
The fine people at Velvet Blue Music (in collaborative conjunction with Common Wall Media, Plastiq Musiq, & President Gator) re-issued a limited edition The Jaws of Life 12″ from Phoenix’s Fine China last December, and we present a premiere to the Soda Shop remix of Fine China’s single “Are You On Drugs?” alongside the epic original. Soda Shop consists of Maria Usbeck (of Selebrities), Drew Diver, Ed Chittenden, & Marty Martier who take on Rob Withem’s biting big pop sensibilities for something ethereal, atmospheric, and ever-expanding like an abstract worship ceremony taking place at a new-age health spa.
The Fine China “Are You On Drugs” (Soda Shop Remix) finds the NYC based group discovery all the air pockets from the original, allowing the song to breath, inhale, exhale, all according to a pace that is not in a hurry to go anywhere. Keys soak in a pool of sustains, as Withem’s vocal stems float on top of a pluming steam fog where tranquil tempo chord strums appear as quick as they disappear within the remix. The narcotic element of the song is taken out of the power-pop/radio ready context and stretched to the song desired to insure the most euphoric come down around.
And while the Soda Shop remix provides an alternate view into Fine China’s classic, the original remains a curious study into the chemical reactions that cause affections, attraction, and the inhibited perspectives and views that come with agents of intoxication. Rob’s wry lyrics and half-baked affectation continues the inquiries into whether a feeling is spurned by genuine love or a cheap fleeting buzz that is illustrated in monster ballad form where the decade-plus single sounds as brilliant as it did in 2005 as it does today.
Fine China finely dressed.
Rob Withem of Fine China shared the following thoughts with us on the remix:
I always like when a remix is very different sounding from the original track. That seems like the whole point of doing a remix. I really like what Soda Shop did with this track, it is weird, cool, and sort of surreal.
Soda Shop (from left to right); Maria Usbeck & Drew Diver.
Drew Diver of Soda Shop commented on the Fine China remix with the following words::
I guess I hate when a remix is just the song with an 808 kick and typical synth build up. It’s become that I feel like the word “remix” has this stigma that locks people into just stripping percussion and then making a buildup into a synth drenched lead with an 808 kick going on throughout. When a song is already a fast pop song or maybe it’s quieter and more ambient it’s fun to take it in a completely different re-direction. It’s a remix, so remove and add elements, slice up the vocals etc.
Since Rob (Fine China) is asking “Are you on drugs?” I wanted it to sound like this dreamy hazy drug trip.
Hear more from Fine China via Velvet Blue Music.
